An internal flub resulted in claims of an apparently nonexistent jump in affordable housing waiting lists, a discovery made only after Fairfax County supervisors called for a review of the backlog.
The county’s Department of Housing and Community Development told The Examiner in July that the waiting list for subsidized housing had jumped by nearly 1,000 since the previous month. It now appears that figure was overstated by about 800 households, the result of what housing department spokeswoman Kristina Norvell calls staff miscommunication.
The waiting list figures included three separate subsidized programs: Section 8 housing, public housing and the county’s rental program. In June, 12,226 households were reported to be on the waiting lists, a number that jumped to 13,173 in July. At the time, officials could produce no explanation for the increase.
Housing staff said they recently found they had accidentally omitted a large number of names from the June list, creating the impression of a much wider disparity between the two months. New figures show a June waiting list of 13,029.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins called for a response from county staff on why the list had increased so suddenly. Wrote Hudgins in a July memo: “While the county attempts to eradicate homelessness … I would like to believe that we are not moving drastically in the other direction.”
The loss of affordable housing remains a concern in Fairfax County, and supervisors have undertaken efforts to acquire and preserve units that can be made available to families at below market rates.
Officials also recently expanded the income threshold for housing programs. Under new guidelines passed by the Redevelopment and Housing Authority, a household in some cases can meet the average median income of about $93,300 for a family of four and still qualify.
